Monday, February 27, 2017

What is Your Social Media Purpose?

There’s no wrong answer, but
it’s probably not a question that you’ve taken the time to answer. After all,
social media infiltrated our lives so rapidly that many of us jumped on board
on a whim.

I know I did.

When Facebook first appeared
on the scene, it was a networking system for college students. My sister had a college
email address so she was an early adopter. I hadn’t started at my new
university yet, so without the .edu
email address, I couldn’t join.

Restricted.

Naturally, I thought Facebook was stupid.

Myspace and Xanga (remember
Xanga?!) were the popular forms of self-expression and texting had only
recently become normal. So, when Facebook opened up their online doors to
anyone, I joined reluctantly. Why not, right?

It’s different today. According
to Zephoria Digital Marketing, 1.23 billion—BILLION!
people log into Facebook every day,
and many users check their accounts multiple times. Facebook has become a
second email account in many ways, and there’s an infinite amount of business
deals that happen on this platform.

With all the content that’s
tossed around (and we haven’t even touched the other platforms numbers!), it’s
important for us as marketers (which you are if you’re a writer and author!) to
rise above the noise and have a purpose for why we’re using social media.

We’re all on varying degrees
of the career spectrum, and that’s okay! If you’re writing, then you’re a
writer, no matter who reads your writing or what publisher buys your work. We
must give ourselves a break and love the journey God has given uniquely to us.
That said…

For some of us, writing is a
hobby, an outlet, therapy. We write for ourselves, our families, our friends.
If we get published in a magazine, it’s super exciting and if a book deal were
to happen, wowza!

For others, writing is a
career. It’s the life-force that gets us up before daybreak and leaves alone on
the couch with our laptops after the household has gone to bed. It’s the
business that puts food on the table, gas in the car, and “spending money” in
the kids’ Star Wars velcro wallets.

Where do you fall on the spectrum?

If you’re a hobbyist, throw
yourself into it! Love it! Enjoy it! Social media is where you stay in touch
with family and friends, updating them not only on your writing journey, but
all aspects as well. The “proper time to post” isn’t something you need to
worry about. If you share your work, you may have some fans join you in the social
world. No stress!

If you place yourself further
down the career line, you should also love it, but it’s time to start digging
in to your analytics and audience. You’re not only sharing your writing journey
plus all the other fun life stuff, but now each piece of content needs to be
scrutinized. You’re moving into the land where the opinions of people who don’t know you matter. You’re reaching
out to potential new fans, new readers, and as we all know, our readers have
high expectations for who they follow.

This can still be fun, and it
should be! If you hate your social media marketing plan, you have two options:
change it, or quit it. Your audience know when you’re not engaged with them,
and this will be reflected in your numbers. (Last month we chatted about what
winning looks like. Catch that post here.)

You don’t want to be the
spammer . . . only and always asking for sales, likes, and follows.

Buy my book! Did you see my
book? Have you bought my book? Please buy my book. I don’t do anything else in
life except ask people to buy my book.

You can substitute blog for this, too. Go to my blog. Check
out my blog. Here’s my blog. Did you read my blog?

AHHHHH.

Those posts have a time and
place . . . they must be filtered with great content that is relevant to your
audience.

Let people into your life.

When you’re writing a book,
share some updates, give a look “behind the scenes.” Then for the rest of the
week, share quotes, memes, blog posts (a mixture of yours and other peoples),
create a poll, tell a story, especially if it’s self-deprecating.

People like it when you don’t
come across as too big for your britches, so tell them about the time you walked
into the hotel lobby with a used Capri Sun packet stuck to the back of your
pant leg. #TrueStory

When your book releases, celebrate! Let your audience celebrate with you. If
you’ve managed your content well before the launch, your audience will feel like
they walked this journey with you, and oftentimes will buy your book because
they feel invested. No spamming required.

Engage.

When people comment on your
pictures or statuses, respond. Like their replies. Comment back. Tag them.

Social media is a conversation, and if it falls one-sided, people will stop
dropping by your page. When you love your people, they feel it, and you’ll find
that across the board, in the long run, your analytics will prove it.

Social media marketing is a
long man’s game. We’re “grifters” without the manipulation. Build your audience
strong and deep, not wide and shallow, and you’ll find that no matter if you’re
a hobbyist or careerist, your writing will be read by more people than you can
imagine.

So today, decide where you
fall on the spectrum and what you want from social media. Know it. Own it. And I want to know, too, so share in the
comments!

Bethany
Jett is an
award-winning author of The
Cinderella Rule,
speaker, ghostwriter, founder of JETTsetter Ink, a consulting and editing company,
and was recently accepted into a Master of Arts in Marketing program.

Bethany is a military wife and all-boys-mama who is
addicted to suspense novels and all things girly. She writes on living
a brilliant #CEOlife at BethanyJett.com.

4 comments:

Thanks for sharing Bethany! This is quite an informative post. Engagement is the key. Too many people are "buy my book" types. What they forget is to give me a reason to buy their book over someone else book. My favorite authors always recommend other author's books.